These lists are always difficult, because even with all the leaks, rumors, and steady stream of press releases, a few surprises always somehow manage to stay under wraps till the show actually starts. But based on what we currently know, here are my most anticipated titles of E3 2012.

1. Assassin’s Creed III (Xbox 360, PS3 / Ubisoft)
A new protagonist, a new location, and the new frontier element already had this as one of my most anticipated titles for the entire year. But some new levels are also supposed to debut at E3—at this point, I don’t know how much more “new” ACIII stuff I can take until my head explodes from want!

2. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (Xbox 360, PS3 / Konami)
I thoroughly enjoyed the first Lords of Shadow’s story—though, admittedly, the gameplay needed some fine-tuning. And the idea of continuing that awesome story—and hopefully some gameplay fixes—has me giddy with vampire-bashing excitement.

3. Sleeping Dogs (Xbox 360, PS3 / Square Enix)
What do you get when you take Arkham City’s combat system, a GTA-style urban sandbox, and cross it all with Assassin’s Creed’s free-running? You get Sleeping Dogs, Square Enix’s rescued remnants of Activision’s canceled True Crime: Hong Kong. I can’t wait to see how far this game’s progressed—and whether United Front Games can pull off those aforementioned elements as smoothly as trailers make it seem.

4. Halo 4 ( Xbox 360 / Microsoft Game Studios)
We’ve been hearing and seeing little tidbits about 343’s first chapter in the Halo franchise for quite some time, but we’re gonna get bombarded by some cold, hard facts and gameplay coming out of E3. Seeing Master Chief back in action—along with the first taste of a brand-new story—after such a long hiatus will easily be one of the show highlights.

5. Dead Space 3 (Xbox 360, PS3 / EA)
So, this is only a rumor right now, but with a steady stream of leaked screens and a leaked trailer, I think it’s a safe bet we’ll see something from EA in regards to this highly anticipated sequel. Just what will the third chapter of this space survival-horror franchise entail for Issac Clarke? What new Necromorphs or environments may we face? I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out—and be scared out of my wits!

Ray Carsillo has extensive roots in geek culture, as he’s written about video games, comics, and movies for such outlets as Newsday.com, ESPNNewYork.com, Classic Game Room on YouTube, Collider.com, and Comicvine.com before finally settling into EGM as reviews & previews editor. His main goal in life? To become king of all geek media, of course! Follow Ray’s exploits on Twitter: @RayCarsillo. Meet the rest of the crew.